Tortoise

Weather wise it was a relief to be back in Syria. Although some days were still overcast and fresh, I felt much better and by now the temperatures are nice and warm over all.

When coming home at night on Saturday, I found a group of Sahara Club members staying on the camping site. They stayed for 2 nights enjoying visits to Aleppo and Saint Simeon. Then left for Palmyra in different directions.

This is the first time I encountered a group of travellers organized the way they are. 27 (mostly 2 per car) left Europe, each following their own itinerary, meeting other members of the group at some reference points on the travel map. Not only that, but some of them travelled to the Middle East via Northern Africa, while some came through Turkey. Some are flying back home after a few weeks, while others join in by landing in Damascus, for example.

They are in contact with each other and know perfectly well how everybody is proceeding with the journey.

It is a good way to travel all together individually and to have 1st hand feedback on accommodation and places to visit.

Yesterday evening another team of the group arrived at our doorstep. 1 is taking the bus to Turkey today to fly home tonight. The other one will travel a few days alone before his girlfriend is joining him in Damascus.

The house has been cleaned and “de-dusted”. The next few weeks getting rid of the weed is again on the agenda. The weather has been very favourable to all things growing. I would like to see my vegetables and flowers growing and not lose them in an ocean of weed.

This is probably the last big round of weeding. It will not be so hard to get rid of it, as many women in the neighbourhood have sheep and they are glad to come and help in exchange for a good meal for their animals.

One of the signs that as from now the weather will get hotter gradually is that the tortoise has surfaced. This is a tortoise rescued from the hectic traffic on the road last year. I put it in the back of the garden and lost it out of view after a few days. Thought it had gone, as the wall was not completely closed back then and we did not have a gate. It stayed.

I didn’t see it. It was spotted by Ahmed and Rahaaf leaving the garden. They had never seen a tortoise before and with a terrified voice called me to have a look at “something”. My first thought was that they had seen a snake, but they would have called “hajjé”. Had a look and laughed. Took it in my hands and showed it to them. They were astonished/relieved to see it didn’t bite or sting. After a careful observation “from a distance” and a lot of questions they went home.

I put it in the back of the garden where the weeds will remain, far away from the vegetables and the flowers, but am afraid I will have to keep it else where. Maybe I’ll take it up on the veranda. They are believed to bring good luck.